diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala
index a64027e48a00b..9f6329bbda4ec 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/expressions/codegen/CodeGenerator.scala
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ class CodeGenContext {
     // use c1 - c2 may overflow
     case dt: DataType if isPrimitiveType(dt) => s"($c1 > $c2 ? 1 : $c1 < $c2 ? -1 : 0)"
     case BinaryType => s"org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.util.TypeUtils.compareBinary($c1, $c2)"
+    case NullType => "0"
     case other => s"$c1.compare($c2)"
   }
 
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
index 82dc0e9ce5132..cc6af1ccc1cce 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
@@ -1451,4 +1451,11 @@ class SQLQuerySuite extends QueryTest with BeforeAndAfterAll with SQLTestUtils {
       checkAnswer(sql("SELECT a.b FROM t ORDER BY b[0].d"), Row(Seq(Row(1))))
     }
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-8782: ORDER BY NULL") {
+    withTempTable("t") {
+      Seq((1, 2), (1, 2)).toDF("a", "b").registerTempTable("t")
+      checkAnswer(sql("SELECT * FROM t ORDER BY NULL"), Seq(Row(1, 2), Row(1, 2)))
+    }
+  }
 }